Survival Games as its known in South Korea A.K.A Airsoft Games is a sport / hobby that’s been around for almost 20 years. I’ve been playing on and off since the early 90′s in the Philippines. Airsoft is very similar to paintball except that the guns fire 6mm plastic BB’s and hits are based on the honesty system where you call out when you get hit and leave the game. You may be wondering, Does it hurt? well it depends on the power(muzzle velocity) of the guns but teams in Korea generally have a 300 fps (feet per second) limit which feels like a pinch when you get hit from a distance of about 10 meters. Face and eye protection is mandatory for obvious reasons. Uniforms are fairly cheap as most people buy used items from the surplus stores at Namdaemun and Dongdaemun, a full set consisting of camo’s (shirt and pants) can be had for about 8,000 won – 15,000 won. Like everything else in Korea the guns can be quite expensive especially if you compare them to HK, USA or even Philippine prices. Chinese and Hongkong made guns costs around 230,000 won – 500,000 won, while the Japanese branded ones are upwards from 450,000 won.

It was when I first arrived in South Korea where I had a really difficult time finding a team to play since the teams here are somewhat formed differently, mostly people working in the same office would set up a team and more often than not did not readily accept acquaintances to just drop in and join their team.

This year a group of foreigners comprised of folks from Canada, U.S., Australia and the Philippines set up what can probably be considered the first foreign airsoft team in the ROK. The team is called Airsoft Korea – Ghosts and the biggest difference from the local teams is that guests are encouraged to attend and eventually join the team, in fact even if you don’t have the gear just yet and would like to try out the sport, loaner guns are available. The only rule is that if you break it, you pay for it.

The team had its first ever inter-team match versus the Incheon based Team Zero. The games were a success and people had loads of fun and we all met new friends.

Airsoft Korea – Ghosts currently has four Filipino team members. So if you you want to try out a new off the beaten path kinda sport, meet new friends and have a really good workout. Visit the site listed below and participate in the forums and drop in anytime during the regular Sunday games.

If you find youself driving in Kangnam-gu better think again before you park illegally. There are dozens of these mobile CCTV vehicles that prowl the streets for parking violators. Once you get caught on camera it would be pretty difficult denying it.

I believe this is a better way of enforcing illlegal parking and other traffic violations. In the U.S, and most other countries, a parking enforcement officer usually is on a small vehicle and has to exit and write a ticket to be placed on the offending vehicle, which incidentally was how it was done in Seoul before. The problem with this is that an argument usually ensued if the owner of the vehicle saw his / her vehicle being ticketed. With this system the enforcer merely has to point the camera at the offending vehicle and take a photo or video. I’ve seen these vehicles catching offenders even from across the street. If the Philippines had funds for this kind of setup, it would prove to be a good deterrent at bribery.

Personally I prefer driving myself to taking public transport. South Korea’s public transportation is probably at par with other developed nations but when we first arrived in Seoul, english was almost non-existent in the subways and buses. More often than not cab drivers are rude especially when the language barrier kicks in, I get especially irked when the driver says ‘Waaa’ in a very condescending tone when I politely ask to be driven somewhere. This is the reason why I prefer driving.

The license conversion process is a relatively simple process, especially if you hold a United States, Japanese, the United Kingdom and a couple of other countries.

For Philippine license conversions you need to obtain a LTO certification for your license and have it notarized and stamped at the Korean Embassy in Manila.

Driver’s license conversions do not require a practical or written test but you do have to pass a physical exam.

A Korean license is now valid for ten years instead of the previous eight years. New licenses also reflect identical Alien Registration numbers and Drivers License number. Being accompanied by a person who can speak Korean will definitely be a big help.